Bourne



(No Model.)

J. ll. MELBOURNE.

AUTOMATIG vSTOCK FEEDER. No. 285,295. Patented Sept. 18, 1888.

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JOHNv PAHHEH- MILBURNE, oE MANoHEsTEH. coUNTY or LANCASTER,

ENGLAND.

,lxLnolvi/rrlc STOCK-FEEDER.

`SPEI'FICATION forming.. part of Letters Patent No. 285,295, datedSeptember 18, 1883, Applicatiunliled May 4, i851). (No iunllel.)Patentediu England January 4, H3, Ne. 51.

To all whom it may con/cern) Be it known that I, JOHN PARKER MIL-BOURNE, a subject of the Queen -of Great Britain and Ireland, andresiding at Manchester, county of Lancaster, England, have inventedImprovements in the Construction of Automatic Apparatus for FeedingHorses and other Cattle, (for which I have made application for LettersPatent in Great Britain, No. 5l, dated Januaryt, 1883,) of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates,principally, to the construction of apparatuswhich can be charged with food at any time, and will at any futuredefinite hour discharge such food into the feeding-trough, so that theattendant can charge the apparatus with food for a number of horses v orother cattle-l-say, overnightand at any desired time (early in themorning, for instance) the said food will be automatically supplied tothe feeding-troughs.

The nature of my invention will be readily understood -upon reference tothe annexed drawing and the following explanation thereof.

l The drawing represents an elevation of the.

invention shown as applied to a vertical hopper or chute, (drawn insection,) which is iiXed above the feeding trough. Upon the central bossor sleeve of the hour-hand of a clock (represented by the dottedcircles) I t a small camfa, having a gradual rise and a sud den fall orstep, b, (ordinarily called a snailcam,) which cam fits tightly, but iscapable of beingv set so that the position of the fall or step shallcorrespond to any particular hour 'at which the food may be desired tobe supplied. Against this cam a bears one end of a lever, c e, attached'by a wire, d d, to a bellfcrank lever, e e, and having a spiral or otherspring,

4o f f, which draws the lever c c tightly against the cam a. A pinprojectingvfrom the lower arm of the bell-crank lever e e 'hasrestingagainst it a vertical lever, g g, which is inclined slightly to theright of its Xed center, h, and as soon as the tooth on the end of thelever c c escapes from the step b of the cam a the spring ff pushes thelever g g past its vertical center, audit then falls into the positionindicated by the dotted line t In con- -to the lower or horizontal armofthe Z-shaped lever 7c k is a boss, o, through which passes loosely thelower arm of a lever, 'p p, mounted on a fixed center at q g, andconnected at its upper end by a link, Ir r, to a lever, s s, xed on'thehinge of the iiap t t, which closes the chute u a and supports thefodder above it.

The action of the appara-tus is as follows: Before the attendant leavesthe stable or the cattle-shed at'night he first raises the verticallever g'g into the position shown on the drawing and rests it againstthe small bell-crank e c. He then raises the weighted-lever a n up intoposition, bringing with it the Z-shaped lever k k, and by means of thelever p p closes the valve or flap t t in the chute u u, after which heplaces the required amount of fodder on the said valve or iiap, and theapparatus is ready for action. It will be observed that the weight ofthe fodder cannot open the valve or flap t t when the levers are in theposition shown, because the direction of the thrust of the lower arm ofthe lever p p is in a line with the fixed center l Z of the Z-shapedlever 7c k. At the appointed time in the morning the action of the clockwill have brought the step b of the cam a opposite to the tooth orprojection on the lever c c. As the tooth escapes this step the springfwill pull down the small bell-crank e e, causing it to push thevertical lever g g past its center, when it falls over into the positionindicated by the dotted line fi i, and `comes against a finger, fu,projecting from the end of the horizontal arm of the bell-crank lever nn, bringing the weight past the center, when the latter immediatelyfalls over into the position shown by the dotted lines m m". The upperpart of this lever in its turn comes against a finger, w, projectingfrom the end of the curved arm of the Z-shaped lever la lc, which itpulls over with it into the entirely reversed 'position shown by the.dotted linesV the valve or ap t t and allowing the fodder to fall downthe chute a a into the feedingtrough.

There a number of horses or other cattle are to be fed at the same time,each feedingtrough is supplied with its separate hopper and chute, andthe valves or flaps of the same are all fixed on a long shaft, so thatthe falling over of the weighted lever a a shall open all the valves t tat once.

In cases where the feeding-trough is not supplied from above by a chute,this same` apparatus (instead of opening a valve or flap) may be'made toopen a hinged door, so as to give access to the fodder, which has beenpreviously placed in the feeding trough or manger, which latter in thiscase is inclosed instead of being open.

Then aalarge number of animals are to be fed at one time, the strengthof the apparatus will of course have to be proportionedto the amount ofWork to be done.

It Will also be evident that this apparatus, although only described asapplicable to the automatic feeding of animals, may also With equaladvantage be applied for other analogous purposes, where it is requiredto effect the automatic discharge of ay certain previ- 'the valve ordoor at a determined time, all

substantially as described.

2. The combination of a valve or door and a lever, p, controlling itsmovement, With a clock having a cam, a lever, e, adapted to be releasedthereby, a spring, and trip-levers operated through the medium of thesaid lever substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a valve or door and 45 Z-shaped lever k to operatethe same with Weighted bellcrank a, levers g and e, spring, and aclock-operated releasing device, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof' I have signed my name 5o to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

J. P. MILBOURNE.

lVitnesses:

GEORGE DnvrEs, CHARLES DAvIEs.

